Sorry I'm a bit slow with news, but I'm working on Sims 3 infopages and that takes more time then expected. Below news from the past days:
Grants houseThis house was shown in one of the Sims 3 trailers and now you can play with it yourself. TheSims3.com has placed this house on the Exchange including its 3 inhabitants.
Get it here: Grants house

Sims 3 horror movieAnother update from theSims3.com is a new scary Sims 3 trailer.
Watch it here: New movie

The Sims3 Store has updated with a completely new set called the "Ultra Lounge" set. Get 50 items for 19 dollars. Or, if you're unlucky and need to buy them in Euros, the price is 23 Euros ($32,-).
There are also a few new hairstyles and clothes, which ofcourse are not in this set.
As you may have noticed, I'm not that excited about this store and though as a newsreporter I need to stay objective, I believe these prices are totally ridiculous.
But anyway, check it out here: Ultra Lounge set

Sims 3 expansion

3 July

It's confirmed; The first Sims 3 expansionpack will be here in November. On a French gaming site, the following title was found: The Sims 3: Destination Aventure.
Note that there's no official statement from EA about this pack yet, but is expected very soon.
Check the site here: Jeuxvideopc.com

New poll

5 July

Time for a new poll. This weeks question is if you would like a future expansionpack attached to the neighborhood or seperate like Sims 2. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last poll question was if you still play Sims 2. It's quite a surprise that almost two-thirds completely stopped playing Sims 2! And another 19% only plays it a little bit. Only 10% doesn't want to make the leap to Sims 3 yet.
5378 people voted and here are the results:

Did you step over to Sims 3?
- Yes, no more Sims 2 for me: 61%- I still play Sims 2 a bit: 19%- I prefer Sims 2 over 3: 10%- I will stay with Sims 2: 10%

Site update

10 July

A few site updates:
- The menu has been changed around so that The Sims 3 links are now at the top and The Sims 2 links have lowered.
- There's a new Programs page with links to Sims 3 modifications and guides.
- The fansite page is updated with old links removed and new sites added.
- A new page in the Sims 3 Infocenter about Gems.

New poll

13 July

Time for a new poll. This weeks question is if you use mods in the Sims 3. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last poll question was if you would like a future expansionpack attached to the neighborhood or seperate like Sims 2. Only 2 options were possible: Yes, have it attached or no, like Sims 2. 76% prefers the first option; 24% wants it seperate.
4126 people voted and here are the results:

Must a future expansionpack be attached to the neighborhood?
- Yes, I prefer it that way: 76%- No, I want it just as in Sims 2: 24%

Sims3 expansion sighting

19 July

'OpMystik' found another store that takes preorders for the first Sims 3 expansionpack. The name keeps changing as it's now called "World Adventures". Interesting is that this title was used in some regions for Sims 2 Bon Voyage (according to Wikipedia).
Check the site here: Argos.co.uk

Misc. news

22 July

TSR Workshop publicThe Sims Resource has released a public beta of their Custom Content tool. Though it's not competely fully functional, it has some great options like creating new textures, clothing, accessories and much more.
Check all the info here: TSR Workshop

SimsGuru blogTheSims3.com updated with the news that SimGuruLyndsay wrote a little blog about Story Progression.
Read it here: SimGuruLyndsay blog

Sims 3 selling faster then Sims 2Gamasutra posted an article about the PC sales of June. They focus specifically on Sims 3 which sold 820.000 units in America alone (not even counting digital downloads). Interesting is that they also note that it's selling faster then Sims 2.
Read the story here: Gamasutra article

Free items on Sims3.com

25 July

TheSims3.com has added a few free clothing items. This to promote the JCP Teen store.
This store is new to me, but as long as there are no adbanners on them, EA can have more of these promotions.
Note that some of these items are recolors from the Sims3Store so you may already have some of these in your game.
Get the free items here: Free Penny clothes

Sims3 expansion sighting

25 July

Sims 3 expansion World Adventure has now been sighted on the French Amazon (French title Destination Aventure).
Here's the link: Amazon.frThanks Sim Times!

Time for a new poll. This weeks question is what rating you would give The Sims 3. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last poll question was if you use mods in the Sims 3. The majority of people (57%) keeps their game mod-free. Though still over 1 third uses quite a few mods.
4209 people voted and here are the results:

Do you use mods in the Sims 3?
- Yes, my game is heavily modded: 12%- I use several mods: 25%- Just the no-censor patch: 6%- No, not a single mod in my game!: 57%

New patch

29 July

Patch changesEA has released a new patch. This time it's really large and fixes an enormous amount of bugs.
See the complete list here: Patch changes

Censor patchAfter installing the update, the old censor patch no longer works. The newer patch at ModtheSims still works.
Get it here: New censor patch

Patch bugsThere is a big nasty bug in this update; In many cases, Sims will no longer use objects if it's in another room. You have to manually move your Sim to the room in question and then use the object.
Other problems that people experienced are: Slowdowns, crashes, sound problems and custom content no longer working.